Anti-erosion work to be completed by June

Statesman News Service

MALDA, March 24: The irrigation and waterways department has set a deadline of 30 June this year for completion of anti-erosion work on the bank of the Mahananda in Old Malda and Habibpur to save the barbed wire fencing along the India-Bangladesh border.

The Centre had sanctioned the project following the nod of the Central Water Commission. A total of Rs 33 crore has been allotted for the project.

According to the executive engineer of irrigation department in Malda, Mr S Misra, six kilometres of the bank will be protected from erosion to save the barbed wire fencing in vulnerable areas along the border. The departmental engineers began procuring materials for the project on 2 March.

For security reasons, the Border Security Force has already listed out the irrigation department officials, the contractors and the hundreds of labourers who will cross the fencing while work along the border is on. The BSF has also held a meeting with the irrigation officials to fix the timetable for opening gates along the fencing at different spots on the border.

Hundreds of labourers are working on the bank of the Mahananda from Muchia to Adampur border outposts and from Sukhnagar to Krishnagar border outposts, close to the Bangladesh side, under the supervision of the BSF.

“Procurement of boulders is almost complete. Labourers will have to make nearly five lakh concrete blocks for pitching slope of the bank-line within the stipulated time. We expect that the project will be completed by 30 June, before the monsoon arrives,” Mr Misra said.